Who Are These Guys?
Only a few games into the season and this is already feeling like a weird year. SF is near the top of the league in HR’s but I still don’t trust this offense. I’m not really sweatin’ the solo bombs those will even out over the course of the season. I just look at the line up and it’s not doing anything for me. But then there are all those bombs. So I don’t know what to think.
Kapler (and many of the players) have given credit for the power boon to the coaching staff and the new hitting approach. Could that really be all it takes? Just a different “approach”? I dunno, I’m not sold. The aged POTD still resonates with me…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Let’s recognize this new found power for what it is…simply a distraction. We all know a few more bombs won’t make a bit of difference over the course of the season. What we need is pitching if we get that figured out everything else will fall into place. Gausman has been a nice surprise but Cueto will be lucky to make it to the All Star break before coming down with some mysterious lingering injury and it all goes downhill from there. Starting pitching by committee won’t work as evidenced by the grease fire the bull pen provided on opening day so where do we go from here? Wonder what Timmy is up to these days….
You covered a lot here, bird dog
There’s a lot going on….Flavor
Good post…I agree on the pitching. Paging Mr. Lincecum…Mr.Lincecum, please pick-up the red courtesy phone…
Said offense has scored 4 runs in last 3 games. team is hitting .212, with OB of .272.
Last night 1 BB 3 hits. 3-1 L
night before 2 BBs 9 hits 3 HRs/6 singles 3-2 W
Seattle Saturday game 2 BBs 6 hits 1 double 0 runs
Flores might have hit hardest thing by Giant all night, which no one saw due to camera malfunction. Other than that, Darvish himself had 2 balls that went farther.
And this afternoon Giants face Snell.
similar sentiments
well the last K on check swing was BS. And the twitter nut would not have had him swing at that pitch, which was in the dirt.
Never ending Belt wars have only 6 months to go, thankfully.
If they keep any one of the BC, it would likely be Belt.
Takeaway: Talent is there. No argument about it even approaching top of the line, though. Would Kapler making different decisions be akin to rearranging desk chairs on the Titanic? Don’t think so. Whisler in the 7th was evidently the pre-season plan. Doesn’t work, or at least didn’t two of the first three occasions. He has only a single pitch and he hung that 80 mph slider to Carrotstick. For the next couple weeks he should only be used in blowout situations, where his performance doesn’t much matter.
Belt: Looking more and more evident that his pre-season owwwies with the heel, covid, et al have had a lingering negative effect on his getting the act back together. Fairly confident he’ll get it back and likely needs to face Colorado or Arizona pitching to move the process along. But what the hell was K. thinking about when he opted to slot him in at cleanup last night ? Dumkopferei.
Though Crawford broke the ice with that dinger last night, he’s still on heavy probation. He may still have the arm and the knowhow to play shortstop, but would a rangier one have snagged one or more of that constant assault of grounders which reached the outfield? Solution? Maybe Giants will need to option or DFA one of those relievers and sign or trade for a quality fielding SS to start in every game where quality starters would likely make for close contests. Potential slugfests and Craw would do just fine. Just my opinion, so it would be nice to see some feedback by guys who have actually watched him over the years.
Daytime game today with a pair of quality starters going. Scoring and even getting on base could be limited. Gausman looked locked in for his first start. Snell needed a lot of pitches to go a few innings. That situation could be our only chance to pull off an upset today. Maybe seeing daylight will awaken a couple of the slumbering bats. We can hope, can’t we?
I am with bird, pitching is pretty much everything and we won’t be going anywhere until we fix it. We won 3 WS with superior pitching against some of the most feared hitting teams at the time. Hopefully Cueto can hold up to the trade deadline and we can dump him.
My argument of run diff being a flawed measure of actual productivity rears its ugly head.
One good power day among 2 bad days with the bat means you are still losing 2 of 3.
That’s not what it measures. It measures how your offense is balanced against your pitching/defense. It becomes increasingly valid over the course of a season, and is a good macro level tool for assessing how well a team has been put together and tweaked by the GM over a year, given a certain set of constraints (personnel and $$$) and priorities. I’d guess it’s used internally by management to set some rough targets for the offense and p/defense in an upcoming year. A team that scores 600 runs and allows 400 will have a similar record to one that scores 750 and allows 500, give or take a few wins. But you’re right, over a few games it doesn’t tell you very much. You’re very welcome for this refresher course.
We scored more than we gave up last year and had a losing record. Yeah, there are variables; park, day/night, biorhythms, whatever the fuck, but really? Saying teams that scored +200 to +250 will have similar records? No shit, Sherlock. The point is, teams that are near equal in both can vary widely in their records.
Which is why it’s a somewhat better measure than W-L of how well the GM has done. Just like there are better measures of a pitcher than W-L or ERA.
It’s the ratio that matters. A 600/400 team will almost certainly have a better record than a 1000/750 team.
SS and CF are 2 biggest issues to fix position wise. Craw has been going downhill defensively, as Blade noted and was confirmed looking up fangraphs defensive analyses, for few years now. Bringing in a good field/no hit guy doesn’t seem at all like good idea, and there isn’t a IF bench spot open for someone like that. If you move Dubon over there, the question is how much do you gain either in hitting or on defense. Craw can’t be traded without consent, making any deal very difficult. Moving Dubon to SS further complicates OF, for 2021 anyway.
Maybe that’s plan for next year, idk. But signing a big $$ long term deal with FA SS I really doubt happens. Seager will want astronomical deal, Correa given Stros background likely unpalatable, and Story is a ? over what non Coors numbers would look like full time.
Little over 3 weeks from now Giants go back into Petco for 3 game series. Hope Tatis Jr. has made right decision and is on field. Pads have cool team and better for baseball he’s able to play and stay in one piece
Solo shots are great if you get enough of them, on the other hand Crawford’s HR last night would have won the game if it was a grand slam. The coaching staff needs a grand slam adjustment for the hitters. That’ll fix it.
Of the position players, Tommy LaStella’s 733 OPS is the only number close to what it will be at the end of the year.
They only have 5 games in and their already banged up with the lefties Yaz ( hand swelling) LaStella ( back tightness) Craw just slowing down, but it’s Belt who is totally out of whack with now 7 straight strikeouts. He is way behind everyone due to his heel, covid, and mono,and now looking as skinny as Karen Carpenter. He’s all out of whack now swinging thru pitches he usually crushes. It will take awhile to get him back on track and even a frustrated Kapler sees it, and not sure what to do about for now.
Willie is correct I think regarding ownership and Z spending big dollars on a free agent, especially at shortstop. The team over the last couple of seasons since Z took over, gives every indication that they will develop “organically” with minor league prospects, coupled with “tactical” free agents/trades that don’t break the proverbial bank.
I have said though in the past, if they do spend a gazillion dollars on a player, it WONT be a hitter. Why overpay?
Hitters, not named Bonds, abhor going to parks where their stats go down. Equally important, the CA tax man bites especially hard in this State (one reason why I have feelers in Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Hawaii for my next home). I digress though – if all, or most of our pitchers are mediocre or face plant going forward, yeah, I can see a big free agent signing for a pitcher.
Back to shortstop . . . Freddy Galvis and Jose Iglesias are in line for free agency in 2022. Marcus Semien is changing positions for his one-year deal with the Blue Jays, but he’ll be available again. So will outstanding defender Andrelton Simmons. If Dubon or whomever player X is in the minors doesn’t fill SS adequately, these are the players I think Z will concentrate on.
By the by, you absolutely want our “bore core” to make hay right now. Same deal with the rest of the LU . . . I will have zero optimism (and it’s pretty low right now) if we approach the trade deadline a la the worst Texas Hold ‘Em hand available, i.e., a 2-7 off suit hand is the worst hand to start with in Texas Hold ‘Em poker because there are so few good options available to you: you have no straight draw, no flush draw, and even if you wind up with a pair of 7s or a pair of 2s, you’re unlikely to have the best hand. lqtm.
The SS future for SF lies with Luciano…probably 2023. Whatever they do for next year will be a bridge/stopgap to Luciano.
If the park plays neutral again and 2020 doesn’t seem like an anomaly, that disincentive should carry less weight. Solid years from Yaz, Solano and a couple others would help cement the reputation of the staff, too.
Location options, Blade: Consider a combination of Duluth and Arizona/New Mexico (very selectively in both places).
Why Duluth from April through October? Spectacular vistas. Housing prices would seem unbelievable to anyone from Cali or Colo. Check out a map. It’s a long, drawn-out, narrow city as its wedged between the most powerfully vibed body of water in the world (excepting maybe in the Antarctic and the Aleutians) and the hardrock cliffs made up of some of the oldest rock on the planet.
Cultural life ain’t bad and seems to be picking up steam, what with three universities/colleges in the area and a vibrant, but gradually developing food culture including a great hippie bakery (positively 4th Street), food coops in abundance; a long-established local brewery and a ton of student bars over on the Superior, Wisconsin side of things. The Apostle Islands along the Wisconsin shore are a kayakers and sailboating paradise. Further up the south shore are some amazing old copper-mining communities up the Keewenaw Peninsula.
The Northshore, though, is the shit. Heavily wooded, right up to the shore in most places, the shore has fast-flowing streams with waterfalls and fish and grand vistas abound. Waaay north up the shore, up at the tip of Minnesota’s arrowhead country, are the micro-city Grand Marais, a counterculture paradise and Grand Portage, right next to Ontario; the spot from which the Voyageur and Coureur’s de Bois canoed their way to the Ojibway villages where intermingling gene-pools and the fur-trade predominated.
Inland from Duluth is the Voyageur’s Park, a canoeist, camping destination. Heading up the trails is the micro-metro, fitting-out town of Ely which also abuts the Vermillion Iron Range and is nestled between the former draws and the amazing Lake Vermillion with pricey summer homes on the south end and pure wilderness shores to the north. Supurb walleye fishing in that lake.
Winters in Duluth are only for the hardy. That’s why the place is dominated by Norskies and Finlanders and generally deserted by los Touristas—excepting for those types into skiing and a host of other winter sports.
So the seasonal alternative would be Arizona and New Mexico. Investigate carefully and maybe a well-sited adobe would appeal. Seven months in Duluth and five in the sunny southwest. Life couldn’t get a whole, hairy, helluva lot better.
Summer in Duluth? Lakeside, it may be 72 degrees on Minnesota Point, while up the hills to the Miller Hill Mall, it could be 85. Meanwhile, a couple hours south in Minneapolis it is 90 and sweaty…and we need not even mention temps in Des Moines, Omaha and St. Louis.
Oh, BTW: Duluth has long been described as a “Poor Man’s San Francisco”. As for the winters, though, consider what The City would be like if Telegraph Hill was to have just been hit with a foot of snow and the streetcar streets heading for Market, would be plowed-off but still icy. Yeah, winters in Duluth could be advertised as a world-class automotive challenge.
Thank you Stix . . . I check daily via a literal horde of realtors (lol) sending me potential homes and realtor.com – the best realty site by a mile per my cousin who is in the business. I will add this criteria to my pre-requisites: 1. Views (ocean, mountains, lake, etc.; 2. Privacy (acreage); 3. Must be near BLM, national forest, i.e., I want to hunt and target shoot my guns . . . same deal for fishing; 4. Modest taxes/regulations; 5. Modest home insurance (I pay more right now for fire insurance vs. my mortgage); Dependable services – electricity goes out for days here numerous times a year; cell phone might as well be 2 cups and a string in Pollock Pines; and, HughesNet is the worst WiFi company in the world; and, 6. low crime (so I can visit my daughter in Vietnam for 1-4 months).
Hawaii is the odd one in there. Only have that one because I have lived there before and it is a hop, skip, jump to ‘Nam. These realtors help me mostly because I don’t have to do a contingency sale (sell my home). I can pay cash. Otherwise, they would ignore me. lol
2 ball parks favoring the pitchers so far, and SF has done all right with that. The bullpen has walked 11 in 15 innings. They obviously won’t be that bad over the long haul. The opening day Alvarez outing was the strangest, and I really hope he doesn’t decide that, after an unusually long run of good seasons, *this* is the year I’m going to suck just to make Kapler look bad.
They’ve done alright? Not the pen. Wisler so far is a huge bust. 2 terrible outings out of 3 isn’t gonna garner any favor with the coaches. Alvarez? We’ll see, but the issue with Wisler is obvious. He can’t keep the slider down. A high slider is BP.
Yeah, this is all early and they all may right their shit, but Garcia, Wisler, and Alvarez are not gonna be around long enough to get right if they have a couple more bad outings.
What, Wisler’s 32.40 ERA isn’t cutting it? 😉
Alvarez will get some time. He’s been nearly Affeldt-like in his consistency.
Based on a single outing, Cueto and Webb would need to be better, too. Projected over a season, their stats do not cut it.
Collectively, I’d take the numbers the staff has put up so far over an entire year, the number of BBs excepted.
LA Sheriff released report on Tiger’s accident in LA some weeks ago.
He was going 85-87 mph in a 45 mph zone.
He never hit the brakes.
They didn’t do any tox screen on him, won’t cite him for anything.
I assume that would all be different if he hit a car head on from the other direction and killed a car full of people.
Sounds very fishy to me, given his past history of substance abuse. Tiger’s been on radio silence since, I don’t think he’s denied being on something. I get the early adulation of Tiger when he was a sensational, mind blowing player, but now he’s just sensational for wrong reasons…
As Loo had noted earlier, April sched doesn’t feature world beaters. Giants come home Friday to 3 each with Rockies and Reds, and have 7 games with Marlins, along with 3 more at home with Rox before month ends.
Reds have been a hot hitting team so far. Of course half their games are played in the Great American Bandbox. Anyway, they are definitely no push-overs.
After 3 straight fastballs, 2 fouled off, Snell snookers Austin with a slider. How many K’s will Giants hitters amass today?
12 pitches to get through the top of the lineup for Snell. Strikes out the side, mostly on 4-seamers in mid-upper 90’s. Isn’t striking out the side in the first sposta be bad juju for pitchers? We’ll see about that.
Only when we do it
Can’t find the game on liveonscore. Hmmmmm
Pitchers duel featuring 4-seamers mostly for the 1st. Snell with a slight efficiency advantage with 12 as against 16 NPs.
Ruf Ruf!
With some help from Pads CF.
Ha yes. 400 ft drive in scorebook.
Ruf treatment for Snell with Longo doubling and Darin clobbering.
First dinger of the season that was not a single-shot. Congrats all around.
I think one of Longoria’s had someone on, but still…
The Giants do like those LHers.
Whoa nice play by Dubon!
Gausman looked as pleasantly surprised as the rest of us.
For those who didn’t see the Ruf HR:
Mateo must have been using his infield glove.
Or his Michael Jackson glove.
Moonwalked all the way.
After starting out with a two strike count, Slater works him to 8 and the last one is ball four. Good job of keeping the eye on the ball and fouling off a few too.
When he does get on, Slater is a base-stealing weapon.
54 pitches after three innings…average of 18 per. Snell’s 4-seamers are nasty, but his secondaries are spotty. All of his offering to Solano were low or lower in the zone or close.
After suffering from an overconfidence single to Snell, Gausman splitters a GDP from Cronenworth. Sweet. Maybe this guy will earn his nearly $20M contract. Of course he’s making his pitch for a longer and better one. Doing a good job of that so far.
Slater been doing since ST getting either a good jump at1st are a walking takeoff from 2B when the pitcher is not always concentrating on him. Think he had 4 steals in ST..
Snell’s killer pitch is a low-rider 4-seamer. His secondary pitches are still scattergun, thus the mound visit with 3 men having reached base in the inning.
Come on. Big inning.
Shit. Where’s the DH when you need it?
I think that was the Giants’ first AB with the bases loaded this season.
Nice feeling at last. Too bad it was with the pitcher at the plate. But getting on base, particularly with a worthy opponent on the mound, tends to be a bit contagious. May that happen in the fifth.
At 77 pitches through four (average @19.25 per, Snell may not reach the sixth unless he can gain some control over his secondaries while holding off the top of the Giants lineup. The strategy of giving Dubon an IP worked tactically to get out of the inning, but two sacrifices were made in the process, upping the pitch count and not being able to lead into the next round with Gausman due to bat.
Making Snell work extremely hard with 78 pitches thru 4 innings compared to only 36 for Gausman going to tht bottom of 4..Over Double the amount!
Oh geez there manager walked Dubon even to load the bases and strikesout Gausman, while Kapler pitched to the 8th place hitter instead of the pitcher with 2 outs and gets burned..Just making my point about a stupid decision imo from the other night..
Gasman is cooking.
He’s hot to trot about not getting that W in Game One, due to the bullies boiling over.
Through 4 innings Gausman at 47 pitches…a little over 11 per. Snell on the other hand…
Snell’s no dummy, even when a bit wounded. He seems to have thrown “hit-me” offerings to Slater, Yaz and Solano. First two worked. On Donnie, a second SD fielding error obliged him to play a somewhat similar game with Longo. But that AB upped his count to where now the 7th looks extremely doubtful for him and maybe even the sixth a bit iffy. Those first quick outs were a field of dreams for the manager and pitching coach. Surprised Slater suckered, but not so much Yaz, as he’s still struggling. Donnie was lucky to get on base.
That’s CG stuff… And screw the stupid pitch counts limits of today games.U average 12-13 pitches an inning a complete game is easily doable from an Ace..
Jeez, bad strike 3 call on Casali, then a bogus strike call on Dubon check swing.
The kid C is only up here until Nola comes off IL. Gausman puts him away with 97 heat. solid 6 innings. SPs continue to lower ERA.
Wow, Gausman is gonna start the 7th.
He should he’s only averaging 16 pitches an inning.
Still dealing, and I would rather have him in then the bullpen..
So would I, just surprised Kap agrees.
Gotcha Mac. With Kapler to never can tell. Thank god he left him in..
Stress free inning lowered his average pitch count, let him continue to go!
Wow!
Belt is hitting em now, but BBIP keeps getting him. So long-term it is somewhat of a good sign, though we sure could use some insurance.
What’s the obsession with pitch counts here today?
My fault.But the additions sometimes need corrections to avoid connections.
It’s ridiculous Loo.When a pitcher is dealing with a low pitch count, keep him out there!
And of course they will pull Gausman after only 96 pitches!
I would prefer one more inning out of Gausman unless he got in trouble then hand it over to McGee for the 9th then start next inning with Jolly Rodgers..
Kapler’s perpetual hard-on for Rogers makes no sense to me. What has he done to deserve it? He’d better not ruin an excellent outing by Gausman.
As for the above Tweet Flav posted about Belt, it’s hard not to agree. When he booted that grounder an inning after doing jack shit at the plate, I’m thinking to myself if he can’t fucking hit and doesn’t field, what good is he? I know it’s early in the season and I do like Belt, but he’s also been the source of a lot of frustration over the years.
Let me guess. Hanging slider
Does he throw anything else?
And as if on cue. FUCK.
Gausman’s W gets submarined.
I don’t want to be your neighbor, Mr. Rogers.
And that’s why you leave Gausman in!!!
Fuck Rodgers and Fuck Kapler as Gausman gets screwed!!
That’s 2 in the garbage for Gasman.
Gameday calls it a high 70mph curveball. Myers, the constant pest/thorn in Giants side. Rogers was throwing strikes, but from that submarine angle, a curve at the top of the zone, middle-in was some kinda mistake. He’s not looking like a great 8th inning option. Do we have one?
Whatever it was it was a piece of shit.
Yes, 7 inning games…
Kapler would still pull Gausman after 5 innings Loo even with a no hitter going..
Let’s see in Melancon giveth, because he sure as hell tooketh away.
Hey! Oaktown actually ties the LaBumbos 3-3 in the bottom of the 9th.
One thing that is strange and the hitters all know it before they come to the plate, the Giants basically have three -one pitch pitchers in McGee (FB) Whistleling out of the park Whisler (slider) and Mr.Rodgers ( actually no pitch at all but shit) so batters just have to guess the location the most. Since no one has barreled up McGee’s FB he gets a pass with his stuff..
Dick didn’t even bluff, did he?
A run!
That play at plate was way closer than I would have thought. dickerson, yeow.
but Barrels does come through.
Would’ve liked to see McGee back out after only 9 pitches..
Me too I don’t get it with a dayoff tomorrow?
Grotesque violation of the DMD rule…
Oaktown finally gets into the win column. Use More of Petit gets the win and the LaBumbos drop to a 5-2 record. Hell, some of their most rabid supporters thought they would never lose a game this season.
Wandyful!
W.
yeah 2 out of 3. Nicely done by Peralta, covering 1b and then getting the K on Mateo.
Ballgame and a 3-3 road trip is nice 👍
Damn nice and not much expected. Though our hitters weren’t doing much vs their pitchers, the reverse, unexpectedly was also true. Of course SF benefited from their #1 attraction over swinging, thus leaving the Pads with a surprisingly lime lineup.
The Magic Wandy is working his way into a much needed late-inning option.
Oh yes, and Atlanta beat the Nats in 7(?!) and guess who did the damage with a two-run dinger in that last inning? None other than El Gordo himself, Pablocito with his 2nd of this young season. Add his performance to Petit’s and ex-Giants are in the news.
i know Colorado usually favors the hitting conditions but this is getting out of hand…..
1st Owings tripled to catcher, Hampson scored.
I have written a script that will flood The Flap with hundreds of “We believe in you, Tyler!” comments at the end of every clean inning Rogers pitches this year.
But this spamalot program of yours will really be as friendly as a 70 mph Rogers curve ball, right?
Bum getting lit up again.